OK today was shoulder day and I bro'd so hard I wasn't really counting sets or anything. Workout started at 3:50 and finished around 4:50.

Listened to this before I went. brilliant band:

Push press
60x3 cleaned first rep
60x5 cleaned first rep
80x3 cleaned every rep
90x3 cleaned first and second rep
95x4 cleaned first rep
90x2 cleaned first rep
The clean takes quite a bit out of me, so I'm pretty pleased with 95x4

Strict press
60x5
60x5
60x5
55x5

Machine press giant set - same notation as last giant set except I can remember even less.
45x6
45x4
40x5
40x6
35x6
35x7
25x6

Legs - after 2 massive workouts I was due a worse one and that's what I got. Training time was probably about an hour.

Squats
60x5
100x5
140x3
160x1
170x1
160x1

RDL
60x10
100x8
100x8
100x8
130x4
need some straps to make this an effective ham exercise I think

Leg extension
basically did sets of 10 on each leg, trying to focus on the contraction, until I couldn't walk.

Leg curl
Giant drop set, same method as usual, probably ended up with about 50 reps or so

Calf raise
50x15
drop set 50x10, 40x7, 30x10, 15x15

This workout made me think. I reckon a lot of strength trainers have a bad idea of what to do on a bad workout. There's Jim Wendler's idea of "go in, do a top set and get out" which I've done in the past and I know Michael did since people called him a drama queen for it. It's short term thinking that kind of misses the point. Your goal for a bad workout should not be to make it into as good looking a workout as possible by taking extra rest, cutting assistance and trying to put up a relatively big number. It should be to relax a bit, forget about numbers and get some work done so that you build some muscle and strength so that your next workout on that bodypart/exercise isn't crap. I think the wider repertoire of exercises BBers have combined with their caring less about numbers is something a lot of people could learn from in this situation. I still don't think I did a great job of dealing with it, but better than I would in the past. Food for thought.

On a less bodybuildery note, I'm going to change my squat form back to the old days. I have briefs in case my hip feels it. I think the form I use at the moment and have been since for ages may have left me with weak hips, particularly adductors.

(Original post by The Troll Toll)
This workout made me think. I reckon a lot of strength trainers have a bad idea of what to do on a bad workout. There's Jim Wendler's idea of "go in, do a top set and get out" which I've done in the past and I know Michael did since people called him a drama queen for it. It's short term thinking that kind of misses the point. Your goal for a bad workout should not be to make it into as good looking a workout as possible by taking extra rest, cutting assistance and trying to put up a relatively big number. It should be to relax a bit, forget about numbers and get some work done so that you build some muscle and strength so that your next workout on that bodypart/exercise isn't crap. I think the wider repertoire of exercises BBers have combined with their caring less about numbers is something a lot of people could learn from in this situation. I still don't think I did a great job of dealing with it, but better than I would in the past. Food for thought.

I think I'm coming around to this way of thinking too. My log doesn't really reflect it, but I don't always put everything I do in my log. But yeah, I'm starting to agree with this too.

To make RDLs a more effective hamstring exercise, rather than using straps and no doubt thus even more weight and reps, you could try focusing more on form, time under tension and feeling the weight in the correct areas.

My philosophy on RDLs used to be that whilst they were a secondary exercise it was still important to use as much weight as possible on them. So I'd break out the straps and stuff and go balls to the wall on them and I think at one point I did up to three plates, or close to it (I know I definitely did 130 x 5/6 and I think it was without straps).

But then I watched the Rippetoe video on them and read the 70sbig post on them and changed my view a lot.

Before, I wasn't getting the full benefit of them on the hamstrings as what was happening was that I was essentially doing a ****ty SLDL from the hang rather than the type of movement that would be of particular benefit to the hamstrings. Felt them a lot in my back but not so much my hamstrings.

Now I treat them as a lift where the actual weight used is fairly irrelevant and as a lift to get a good stretch in the hamstrings, learn to keep the low back tight and the bar close to the legs. Doing them this way gives me the sort of DOMS that makes you walk about like you've just been sodomised. I definitely prefer them this way and get much more benefit out of them now.

Regarding bad workouts, I slightly disagree with your hypothesis. I think that being able to turn bad workouts into good ones has a massive mental boost. Long term progress is made by stringing a long series of successful workouts together and a ****ty workout can break this chain, especially mentally.

Not every workout can be entirely successful (where success equals hitting your planned weights, sets and reps on all of your target exercises) but I've found that even if you have one disappointment then you can make up for it via other PRing on other exercises. A string of PRs builds momentum that can be lost if you have one poor workout and just give up altogether that day.

Everything felt a bit weaker until the DB rows which felt very strong compared to last week. Hands felt stronger on them which is probably a big part. Then again everything up until them was heavier than last week so overall good workout.

A bit ill over the weekend, not the best couple of days ever. Played football yesterday and just felt really bad. Didn't hit a single person in the face all morning. Thing about playing safety is if you're feeling **** it's easier to just avoid stuff like that and carry on feeling **** the whole session. Had a few moments of good coverage, a few terrible moments. The scheme I was learning doesn't make as much sense to me as the ones I know either, probably just because I haven't had it explained to me in detail.

Shoulder day. Still didn't feel good but I feel like I made the best of a bad session. Started at about 5:35 and finished around 6:55.

Push press from rack
20x8
20x5
20x5
60x5 used sleeves on this but they bunched up between my arm and forearm and hurt my elbow. took them off
60x5
80x3
wraps
90x2
95x2
100x2
80x3
80x3
every rep from the first triple with 80 felt like almost a miss. Pleased with 100x2 given that but I'm sure I'm stronger than this

After this I decided to do 10 sets of lateral raises alternated with face pulls. Ended up with 8 sets of face pulls, 1 set of curls and 10 of lateral raises. Just grabbed whichever DBs I could really so there's not much point writing it down.

Had a fairly broerific pump I think. Here's a picture. I dunno. I don't think my shoulders are usually this big. Maybe they are in which case it's more a picture of how cool I am. Or how crappy I am. I don't really know anything about bodybuilding.

About 10 sets of leg curls, ascending until I could do only 5 and then a few back off sets

About 5 sets of leg extensions.

I literally developed asthma this past year at the age of 27. Never had it in my life, but apparently it can develop in some adult cases. Really annoying. Mine's year-round though, not just when I'm ill.

(Original post by SMed)
I literally developed asthma this past year at the age of 27. Never had it in my life, but apparently it can develop in some adult cases. Really annoying. Mine's year-round though, not just when I'm ill.

Man it sucks doesn't it? I've had it forever but I only seem to get it about a couple of times a year so I never keep meds around. Salbutamol hardly works anyway. Was on a nebuliser for nearly 10 minutes once and felt exactly the same after. Last time I saw a doc I got some pretty sweet steroids that actually worked, so I'm gonna ask for some of those tomorrow.

(Original post by The Troll Toll)
Man it sucks doesn't it? I've had it forever but I only seem to get it about a couple of times a year so I never keep meds around. Salbutamol hardly works anyway. Was on a nebuliser for nearly 10 minutes once and felt exactly the same after. Last time I saw a doc I got some pretty sweet steroids that actually worked, so I'm gonna ask for some of those tomorrow.

Luckily, the salbutamol works very well for me. I now keep one in my gym bag and just hit a few puffs before training. If I forget to take it, and start having trouble, few puffs and I'm fine in 45 seconds. Mine's not severe, just annoying.

If you go on steroids, they only really work properly if you're taking them all the time. But if you're going to go on them, make sure you're on the lowest possible effective dose - as corticosteroids can have long term side effects, but if asthma is severe, then the sides are obviously not as bad as the asthma.

(Original post by SMed)
Luckily, the salbutamol works very well for me. I now keep one in my gym bag and just hit a few puffs before training. If I forget to take it, and start having trouble, few puffs and I'm fine in 45 seconds. Mine's not severe, just annoying.

If you go on steroids, they only really work properly if you're taking them all the time. But if you're going to go on them, make sure you're on the lowest possible effective dose - as corticosteroids can have long term side effects, but if asthma is severe, then the sides are obviously not as bad as the asthma.

The time I took them I almost collapsed walking to the doctor's, had salbutamol on the nebuliser, still felt the same, then took a bunch of the pills the Dr had lying around and they pretty much cleared it right up IIRC. I only took them once. I got prescribed three things that day, steroids, salbutamol and something else, can't even remember what. I didn't even collect any of them and I never had problems for another few months. Based on that they seem like a nice thing to have around.

You're sounds quite severe if you're collapsing. If it was oral steroids, they're a much higher dose than the inhaled steroids so can have a much stronger effect, and can rapidly help. Nebs should've been helping though, that's odd.